Three children ‘drown’ in drum on a vacant plot in Ghaziabad

Three minors, including a girl, mysteriously died after allegedly drowning in a plastic drum at a vacant plot in Tulsi Niketan locality in Sahibabad late on Monday evening.

The deaths have baffled the police, which said that it will investigate how all three children downed in a single drum and their bodies were found with heads down. They are, however, waiting for the post-mortem report.

The two deceased boys were identified as Nimai and Azan, aged one and half years and four years, respectively, both children of one Jiyaluddin. The third deceased was identified as five-year-old Salma, daughter of one Abdul. The three children belonged to two families that lived near the site of the incident. The families claimed that the children had gone to plot to play on Monday evening.

Police sources said that the families of the victims arrived at Tulsi Niketan police-post around 6.30pm and informed officials about the missing children.

Police talk to family members of the children who died. (Sakib Ali)

“Late in the evening, an old woman saw the drum and an inverted bucket close to each other. When she peeped in, she found bodies of the three children. The plot is near a residential area and we have ordered a post-mortem to find out the cause of the death. According to initial investigation, it seems that the children climbed into the drum by stepping on to the bucket and entered the drum to bathe,” said Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.

The plot belongs to a scrap dealer, Akbar.

“We don’t suspect foul play because the plot is next to a residential area and not in an isolated location. The bodies had no external injuries to suspect any foul play. Still, the post-mortem will bring forward more details,” he added.

Kumar and other senior officials also visited the spot and enquired about the incident from locals and families of the deceased, who work as labourers.

According to police sources, the drum had a 200 litres storage capacity and was nearly half filled when the three children drowned.

Local sources said that the children left their homes around 3pm. The minor girl studied in Class I and had left her home for tuition.

The Ghaziabad police have decided to call in forensic experts to undertake reconstruction of the sequence of events that led to the three deaths. The family of one of the victims has also forwarded a police complaint, saying that the children probably got drowned while bathing but police must investigate the matter.